CADS Hub Design Applications – Retaining Walls

Retaining Wall Designer

CADS Retaining Wall Designer is a computer program intended to assist the geotechnical and structural design of free standing gravity and semi-gravity retaining walls using Eurocode guidance where applicable. Several related design codes and publications have been consulted as listed in the references in section 6 of this guide and in some cases new solutions have been developed as far as possible in accordance with the general principles of the design codes.

The program provides an analytical tool, not a direct design process. It remains the user’s responsibility to assess soil conditions and strength parameters and to select the appropriate structural materials, dimensions and design parameters.

The program organises the input data and output results in such a way that you are led to consider all the relevant parameters in a logical and complete manner. The calculations, which are tedious, confusing and prone to error when carried out by hand, are completed accurately in moments by the program, allowing you to consider alternative parameters and arrangements with ease and confidence.

After finishing the calculations, a brief message at the top of the window is shown to indicate adequacy or failure of the retaining wall. A summary of input data and calculation results is displayed in the Calculation Summary Report. Detailed line by line calculations may be viewed and if necessary, printed by selecting the Calculations Report option to show logic, equations and their results and by selecting Detailed Report, the numerical values are shown as substituted in the equations.

The current version of the software contains three modules for the design of:

• Reinforced concrete retaining wall
• Unreinforced Masonry retaining wall
• Reinforced masonry retaining wall
• Gabion retaining wall

Each of the above sections are complete in themselves and may be read independently without cross referencing.